Last Date with Narcissus

See how the water reflects the shore?

he said. Instead, it absorbed—dull

as the wounds of the dead. We watched

plovers guard their nests, a lip of light whip-

stitch the horizon. Night seeped up like a gas:

and anesthetized, love-dumb, I, demure girl

echoed as he talked about himself. The lake

grappled with the sky; how he flattered! He whispered,

cajoled. Leaned a leg over the edge of the dock,

pulled out his cock. Sand like salt, a pillar

of tree—I shrugged, said why not? There was a curl

with a yellow center. Then I pushed his hand down.

I swallowed my heart. I let that man drown.